A mail insertion system or a “mailpiece inserter” is commonly employed for producing mailpieces intended for mass mail communications. Such mailpiece inserters are typically used by organizations such as banks, insurance companies and utility companies for producing a large volume of specific mail communications where the contents of each mailpiece are directed to a particular addressee. Also, other organizations, such as direct mailers, use mailpiece inserters for producing mass mailings where the contents of each mailpiece are substantially identical with respect to each addressee.
In many respects, a typical inserter system resembles a manufacturing assembly line. Sheets and other raw materials (i.e., a web of paper stock, enclosures, and envelopes) enter the inserter system as inputs. Various modules or workstations in the inserter system work cooperatively to process the sheets until a finished mail piece is produced. Typically, inserter systems prepare mail pieces by arranging preprinted sheets of material into a collation, i.e., the content material of the mail piece, on a transport deck. The collation of preprinted sheets may continue to a chassis module where additional sheets or inserts may be added based upon predefined criteria, e.g., an insert being sent to addressees in a particular geographic region. Subsequently, the collation may be folded and placed into envelopes. Once filled, the envelopes are closed, sealed, weighed, and sorted. A postage meter may then be used to apply postage indicia based upon the weight and/or size of the mail piece.
These inserters typically require the use of “preprinted” sheets which are presented to the various downstream devices by a feed module for subsequent processing. That is, a mailpiece job run is printed to produce an “ordered” stack of mailpiece content material which may be fed to the mailpiece inserter. Scan codes disposed in the margin of the first or last sheet of each mailpiece document provide the instructions necessary to process the mailpiece, i.e., whether additional inserts will be added, how the content material is to be folded (C-fold, Z-fold, etc.) and/or what size envelop will the content material be contained. To facilitate communication of these instructions, a user computer and a printing device are typically network connected to the mailpiece inserter such that scan codes can be easily printed and interpreted.
More recently, printers have been integrated with mailpiece inserters so that mailpiece content material may be supplied “on-demand”, and/or “just-in-time”. Examples of inserters having integrated printers include the DI 900 and DI 950 mailpiece inserters manufactured by Pitney Bowes Inc., located in Stamford, Conn. While such integration facilitates the flow and handling of mailpiece content material, it is often desirable, if not essential, that the printers used in such mailpiece inserters be repairable, replaceable or interchangeable with other printers. For example, while the DI 900 and DI 950 inserters employ HP 4350 B&W and HP 4700 color printers, it may, over the course of many years of service, be desirable to substitute these printers with updated versions of the same or to replace these printers with those of other Original Equipment Manufactures (OEMs).
Inasmuch as the internal program code employed to control such printers is often proprietary/confidential to the OEM, or time consuming to modify, it has become increasingly important to develop an electromechanical interface between the printer and inserter which allows the printer to operate independently while at the same time operate harmoniously with the mailpiece inserter. That is, the printer must be operative to perform its various functions, including those required by the inserter, without modifying the internal program code of the base printer.
Examples of such program functions include the requirement to duplex print (dual-sided printing) and conventional printing to an upper stacking tray. With respect to the former, duplex printing produces unique requirements inasmuch as a diverter mechanism, typically used in conjunction with printer accessories (such as a stapler or collator), must be controlled to divert sheet material to the mailpiece inserter. That is, while the diverter is typically controlled by the internal printer program code, i.e., when an accessory is added, the diverter must now be controlled in accordance with a different set of algorithms to cooperate with the inserter. With respect to the latter, the printer must be controlled to send sheet material to a stacking tray when being operated as a conventional printing apparatus and to a downstream module of the inserter (typically referred to as the buffer/accumulator or input module) when being used to generate mailpieces.
Additionally, when integrating print devices (i.e., such as the integration of mailpiece inserters with sheet handling equipment), difficulties often arise due to the subsequent height and/or weight of the stacked sheet material. That is, the initial height of the printing device in combination with the height of the accumulated sheet material can result in a total height which is difficult, i.e., ergonomically, to reach and manipulate.
A need, therefore, exists for a print interface system for a sheet handling system which is low profile to facilitate handling of stacked sheet material and accommodates both conventional printing and mailpiece creation modes of operation.